A night to remember
by ablair24
Summary: Ikarishipping, Ash and gang are caught in the rain, there must be shelter somewhere...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N** chapter one, please tell me what you think. The characters are at least 14 years old.

I don't own Pokemon or any characters from the series.

~enjoy

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Ash, Dawn and Brock, are found walking through the forest on a cloudy evening. The clouds are turning a dark grey rapidly and it's getting late.

"We should probably find some shelter soon." Said Brock, as he looked up at the dark clouds above.

"Yeah" agreed Ash, looking at Pikachu on his shoulder for a reassuring nod.

"There looks like a cave over there. " Dawn chimed in pointing ahead with on hand as the other safely secured her piplup.

"Let's go" said ash as the first of the rain drops started to fall.

As they came closer, more rain poured down and they noticed that there were actually two caves, about twenty feet away from each other. They also became aware that there was already a fire in one of the caves. More rain fell as they ran to the opening with light. They came up to the mouth of the small cave, as they looked inside. It was obvious they wouldn't fit in the tiny space.

"It's Paul!" Ash claimed.

Paul silently looked at them standing in the cold rain. The pathetic trainer, the tall breeder and the talkative girl. "What do you want?" Paul said sharply.

"We were hoping to find some shelter out of the rain." Said the breeder.

"There's not enough room for three other people" Said Paul, expressionless.

"Yeah, I realize that now, its fine, I saw another cave close by. Sorry to bother you."

All three left, running to the near by cave. Dawn was slowing down however as the boys ran ahead.

"Hurry Dawn" Said Ash encouraging her to run faster.

'I'm trying' she thought to herself, trying to run while still carrying piplup. Realizing that the extra weight was slowing her, she fumbled around until she found piplub's pokeball. "Piplub return" she said as she hurried to close the gap between her friends.

She arrived at the other small cave moments later, Ash and Brock were already inside. Dawn went inside too, but she was squeezed tightly in the snug spot. There wasn't enough room for all three of them unless they wanted to sleep standing with no fire to warm them. Dawn, being the last one to enter, realized this problem right away and stood back out in the rain. Ash, being clueless, didn't know why she was getting out of the cave.

"There isn't enough room for me" she pouted with a frown, now in the cold rain. Brock, in the back of the cave suggested,

"Why don't you go ask Paul if you can stay in that cave tonight? I'm sure it would be a lot more comfortable."

She nodded, silently, quickly running back to the other cave. 'Great' she thought sarcastically, 'I have to go ask _him_. What if he says no? Then what will I do?' she stopped her thoughts as she realized that she was close to the light emanating out of cave. She slowed down and walked up to the entrance.

She stood in the front of the cave soaked and shivering. Her hat was so wet it drooped down messing up her already wet hair. Paul looked at her with curiosity, wondering what she was doing here. "...Umm... Paul? She said sheepishly, trying to prepare herself for the harsh rejection. "Do you… um, mind if I come in...?"

Paul looked at her, slightly surprised, though his face didn't show it.

"There wasn't any room in the other... cave... soo..." she trailed off as he just stared at her. He watched her stand there, getting pelted with rain drops, wet, cold, shivering, helpless.

"Whatever" He replied calmly.

Her face lit up with joy and surprise. She didn't expect to be accepted.

Dawn sat down by the fire. She took off her soaking wet hat and put it on the ground to dry. Her back was against the cave wall, just like Paul, and she was shivering, rubbing her hands against her arms to warm her up.

Paul sat there for a moment then seemed overly aggravated listening to Dawn shiver. He looked at her, she was so cold and wet. He reached over to his side and got out a blanket.

"Here" he said as he threw it at Dawn. "Stop shivering noisy girl."

She gratefully took the blanket "Thanks" she said.

No reply.

They sat against the back wall of the cave, watching the rain in silence. Dawn's shivering quieted, but she was still cold. She moved closer to the fire where Paul was. Now they were about one foot away in the small cave.

She took a quick glance at Paul. 'I wonder what he's thinking about.' She thought to herself.

She looked out at the rain, when Paul turned his head toward her, and looked at her with that poker face of his.

Her heart sped up a tad, as she looked at him and asked "what?"

They sat there for a moment of awkward silence before he replied with an expressionless face "why did you come?"

she turned her head a little looking confused. "What do you mean?"

He looked annoying, having to repeat himself "Why didn't you choose to stay with your loser boyfriend?"

At first she was mad at that comment 'Ash isn't a loser!' she thought to her self.

But instead of saying that, she answered with some anger in her voice "Ash isn't my boyfriend! And the only reason I came here was to get out of the rain." she calmed her anger before continuing. "I was the last one to get to the cave so I was the one who came here."

Paul just sat there listening, acting board like he didn't care. Though he was the one who asked the question, so he had to listen to some extent.

Dawn looked out at the rain again, it reminded her of the cold and she got a shiver down her spine.

She moved a little closer to Paul who was still closest to the fire. She was sitting with her knees to her chest and back against the wall. She still had the blanket around her shoulders and her arms were wrapped around her knees. She sat there tired and trying to stay warm, while Paul had his usual pants and jacket and wasn't bothered by the cold.

She slowly closed her eyes, listing to the humming of the rain fall. Every now and then she would open her eyes, trying to stay awake. But she was tired, and within minutes she was in a light sleep.

Paul quietly turned his head to look at her, confused at how she could fall asleep so quickly. 'Maybe she's not as talkative as I thought' At that moment she unconsciously leaned over toward Paul and rested her head on his shoulder.

Paul just sat there, a little surprised that the sleeping girl had her head on his shoulder. 'What is she doing? Is she really asleep?' he thought to himself.

He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to wake her up. Even though she was lying on him, he wasn't mean enough to wake her, or was it because of something else. Despite this he still didn't want her lying on him.

He tried to move away a little so she would remove her head, but that only resulted in Dawn moving closer and putting her arms around his waist. 'Great, now what?' He thought as he rolled his eyes. Her head was gently resting on his shoulder and he could hear her soft breathing.

He was frozen. Part of him wanted her to move and stay away, but for some reason, most of him didn't.

'Why don't I mind?' He looked back at her and thought, 'she's so calm… peaceful…' she was breathing slowly and her eyes were gently closed.

'She's not so talkative when she's asleep, she's actually pretty…' His eyes widen with surprise of that last thought then went back to his angry expression.

'Snap out of it Paul! What are you thinking? She's the ignorant partner of that pathetic trainer and his weak pokemon. She has no interest in you, even if she is lying on your shoulder, she's asleep, and she doesn't even know what she's doing. It doesn't mean anything. She doesn't mean anything.' He practically yelled at himself, but yet, he was a little saddened by his rationalizing.

He looked back outside, the rain was falling harder, and his fire was slowly loosing its flame. He tossed in the last log using his free arm, being careful not to wake up the bluenette.

It was getting darker, and the rain was starting to come down harder. He was getting a little colder. He zipped up his jacket a little, moving her hair so it wouldn't get stuck in the zipper. Her hair was soft and smelled like lavender, he couldn't help but notice.

She moved a little bit to get more comfortable.

'I feel like a freaking teddy bear' he thought, holding perfectly still, half hoping she would remover herself from his shoulder. When she didn't, he was annoyed but also relived, and then he was annoyed at himself for feeling relived.

After a while the fire kept dying and the rain continued to pour. He silently cursed himself for giving up his only blanket to _her_. He was getting cold again, as well as tired, it was late.

He thought about taking back the blanket but a few minutes later he saw her shiver the tiniest bit. He figured that she needed it more then him.

He was watching his fire die down little by little, despite that he kept poking it with a stick to try and keep it going.

He looked over at the girl hugging him, he was cold and she was so warm… 'What are you thinking? What's wrong with you?' he thought, lecturing at himself still looking at her, but then he somehow realized that he didn't care, and he went with his need for warmth over what his brain was telling him.

After a few more minutes of just sitting there, he decided that it was time for him to go to sleep, as he yawned.

He moved his arm that was already behind her and placed it around the blanket that was on her shoulders. immediately feeling warmer. She didn't move, instead, he saw her give out a small smile.

Paul smirked, 'figures' he thought, and then he leaned his head against hers and closed his eyes.

And they stayed like that for a long time…

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**A/N** ok, so chapter one is done. tell me what you think, and please give me any advice and/or ideas you have

many thanks :) Comment away!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N** okay, so I went back and edited to authors note for chapter one, so you may like to go back and read it, i basically said that the characters are ages 14 and up. Anyway, I really didn't like this chapter. it took me a long time to write and then re-write, so sorry if they Dawn and Paul are OOC.

~enjoy

* * *

_There she was, in her pink contest dress, with her blue hair up in a ponytail. She was standing by the entrance that led to the big stage. She was smiling as the announcer said her waved at the crowd._

_He was in the stands looking at her, silently, not cheering like everyone else. _

_She spotted him, he was in the center of the seats, his arms were crossed as he glared at her. Her face brightened up as she saw his familiar purple hair and his face seeming to never change, sitting there, watching her. She stopped waving and the crowd became muffled. It wasn't like they stopped cheering, rather that he just stopped listening. _

_He focused only oh her, blocking everything else out. She was in slow motion as she closed her eyes. She brought her hands to her mouth. And blew him a kiss…_

Paul opened his eyes, waking from his dream, cold.

The fire was dim and Dawn's hat was still on the ground, mostly dry now. Dawn was next to him, in the same position that he last saw her. He subconsciously moved his head against the cave wall behind him.

Her head was still sleeping on his shoulder, her arms around his waist, and his arm around her blanket covered shoulders. He looked down at her, she was peaceful and quiet and very pretty.

He frowned as he became mad at himself. 'Paul you idiot, stop lying to yourself.' He shouted in his thoughts, 'Admit it… you like her…'

He had trouble accepting that he could be feeling something for someone else, but he finally believed it. All the evidence was there and he knew it, he saw a couple of her contests on TV, he had dreams about her, and he was absolutely in love with her.

He sighed, still looking at sleeping beauty, feeling her soft breathing. He lifted his hand that was hugging her shoulder, but she shivered the tiniest bit.

Paul was going to remove his arm, but feeling her start to shiver so quickly, he decided not to. 'Okay then, I guess I'm stuck like this' He thought as he rolled his eyes.

So instead, placed his hand on the top of her head.

He took notice of her soft hair and he slowly began to stroke it, _soft and clean_, and she stopped her slight shivering.

Paul looked back out at the rain that still managed to fall. He was getting colder, as it was now the middle of the night. Then, Dawn unconsciously hugged him tighter, as if she knew he was cold. He looked back at her and wondered, 'What is she dreaming about?'

He was still stroking her hair, when a cold gust of win entered the small cave. He thought nothing of it, but Dawn moved a little, or at least that's what he thought, but she actually was starting to wake up.

She slowly opened her eyes. Her arms continued to stay around him and she smiled. Paul removed his arm from her; she was now awake but didn't move. She suddenly realized where she was; Dawn blushed and looked up at Paul. She was hugging him and he was just staring at her. "Ahh!" she exclaimed as she released her grip from the amused boy next to her.

'Oh my God! What was I doing?' she questioned her self. She herd him chuckle and she looked over at him, her face was red with embarrassment.

She grabbed both corners of the blanket around her shoulders and pulled them so that her whole body was covered and so that he couldn't see her blushing face. Dawn was embarrassed but didn't move away, they were still in close proximity; she tried to calm herself down, trying not to show that she was tense.

She knew she had always liked Paul, but she never knew she would do this while asleep. 'Great, now he's going to hate me! I'm going to get kicked out in the rain and I'll never get a chance to know him better.' She was saddened by that last thought.

She was flustered and didn't know what to do, so after a moment of silence she thought that she might as well apologize.

"sor-sorry I fell asleep on you, it won't happen again" she stated with a sad voice. "Well at least not on purpose, I wasn't thinking, I just fell asleep and I guess I leaned a little, I don't even remember, so before you get mad at me, it wasn't my fault…" she rambled but then trailed off as she watched him looking at her as she talked.

She just shut up and looked at the rain feeling humiliated. Paul turned his head away and said nothing, 'She talks so much, but… there's just something about her…'

Dawn just watched the drops fall outside, something was bothering her but she couldn't quite figure out what it was. She ran her hand through her hair and she could have sworn that she had just felt that a mere minute ago. Then it came to her, Paul was stroking her hair when she was asleep! She blushed a little at the thought of it. 'No, no, no, your jumping to conclusions dawn, relax,' she sighed, then another thought popped in her mind. 'Why was his arm around me?'

She looked over at him, they were still really close to each other and the silence between them was getting awkward. He looked back at her, wondering why she was staring at him with out talking. She opened her mouth, but her face flushed and she quickly shut it.

She bowed her head, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her face continued to be red. 'If I keep this up, my face will stay red forever' she thought to herself. 'Okay… here goes' she stared at her feet.

"Paul…?" She asked in a shy voice.

"What" he replied almost coldly, but not in a harsh tone.

"…Why um… Why… did you have your arm around me?" She asked with curiosity in her voice. 'Curiosity killed the cat' she thought holding her breath, anxious to hear his answer, staring at her feet. "I mean," she quickly continued, trying to fill the silence, "me sleeping on you was an accident, and I'm sorry but, you were awake then, so…" she trailed off, feeling him glare at her.

She turned her head to look at him but as soon as she did, she felt something soft on her lips. Her face continued blush and her eyes widened with surprise, before they gently closed in pleasure.

She didn't move.

After a few moments he pulled away and went back to the same position he was in before, staring at the rain.

Dawn just sat there, she reopened her eyes and was gazing at him.

'Did he really just kiss me?' she couldn't believe it. She brought her hand to her mouth hiding a small surprised smile.

Then she closed her eyes in delight and hugged him.

Paul was taken aback, though his face wouldn't show it. Dawn then pulled the blanket that was around her shoulder and started to wrap it around them both. "What are you…?" He started to say but was cut off as Dawn squeezed him again.

"Thanks" she said and put her head on his chest.

"For What?" He asked, he honestly didn't know.

"For letting me know" she replied simply.

"Humph" Paul decided that he didn't want to bother with any more questions. Dawn just hugged him and rested her head on his chest, while Paul didn't move, his hands were at his sides and his back was against the wall and the blanket was around them both, which made it a lot warmer for the both of them considering that the fire was almost out.

He was grateful that she stopped talking so he could get some sleep. But she fell asleep first, and he couldn't help but wonder why he kissed her. After a while He fell asleep too, just as the rain started to lighten up.

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**A/N** well like i said, this chapter took me a long time to make, and i'm not entirly happy with it, but it's still a lot better then the first time a wrote it. so please tell me what you think and how i can improve it. Also include any ideas you may have for future chapters, i'm starting to run out :/ Anyway, i'll stop talking now~


	3. Chapter 3

Paul awoke first in the morning. Dawn was still sharing his blanket and was still hugging him.

He looked out of the cave and saw the sun starting to rise, the rain had stopped earlier and now the air was fresh.

He figured it would be at least another half hour before the breeder and idiot boy would wake up and get the girl. He Sighed and sat there with is back against the wall and his arms by his side. He shared the blanket with her and it was around their shoulders.

He watched the sleeping girl, 'What did I do?' He thought, remembering last night. 'What mess did I get myself in? All because of this troublesome girl.' he thought as he rolled his eyes, wasn't sure what he was waiting for, but he decided that he should wait.

'This is a waste of time' he thought after about three minutes, and he decided to go get some food.

He gently moved her shoulders and released her arms from around him. He quietly slipped out of her hug and she remained asleep. She was now propped up against the cave wall and the blanket was half around her. Paul took the corner of the blanket that was previously around him and wrapped it around her bare shoulder.

Dawn's hair was a mess, but he decided that she would fix it when she woke. Nonetheless, he couldn't help him self. He leaned over, and lightly skimmed his hand over her forehead, moving back some stray hair. She was so tranquil and calm.

'Get a hold of yourself' He reminded. He stood up and watched her for a second, hoping she would stay asleep for a while. Then he walked outside and shoved his hands in his pockets and began to make a fire.

About an hour later Dawn woke up to the familiar smell of Brock's homemade stew cooking over flame.

Ash, Brock and Paul were all outside waiting for breakfast. Ash was a little bit farther from the picnic area training with his pokemon, Brock was tending to the stew while also preparing food for all of their pokemon, and Paul was trying to ignore Ash by reading a book.

As soon as Dawn saw Paul she was reminded of last night. 'Was it all a dream? Did he really kiss me?' Her face turned red with just the thought of it. 'No, it wasn't a dream I'm sure of it.'

She covered her face with the blanket and wanted to scream! She was so excited now that she had time to digest what had happened. 'Oh my God! This is like heaven!' She uncovered her face and looked back outside with a huge Grin.

Her face lost its smile 'Did he say anything? What if Ash and Brock found out?' She panicked a little 'No he wouldn't do that' she reassured herself. 'But what do I say to them? What do I say to Paul in a few minutes when I go to eat breakfast? 'She thought, but then decided not to mention a thing, this was all their little secret and she was ecstatic about that.

She stood up, the blanket still around her shoulders; she bent down and dusted off her hat that was now dry. She straightened her self up and adjusted her hair, she was thankful it wasn't too messy. After fiddling with her hair, hat and clips, she walked over to the picnic area, clasping the blanket around her.

Dawn's face was slightly red with nerves and she tried to clam her self down. 'Be normal Dawn, Deep breath'

"Good morning Dawn, nice to see you're finally awake", said Brock.

"Hey Dawn!' Ash shouted, "wanna come train with me for a little while?"

"No thanks Ash," she said with a yawn, "I'm still a little sleepy, but every one can come out and play!" she said cheerfully as she let out all of her pokemon.

"Okay then, come on Pikachu." Ash said running a short distance to go train more.

Paul, on the other hand, was still reading and didn't even acknowledge her presence.

"Breakfast is ready everyone!" Brock exclaimed, and all the pokemon and trainers were excited, except for Paul who said nothing, just put down his book.

They all sat at their little picnic area eating the delicious stew, while everyone's pokemon were eating some pokemon food. Even Paul's pokemon seemed to be enjoying this, though they kept their space from the others and tried not to get involved.

"So" Brock started a conversation, "How was last night? It really rained huh?"

Dawn desperately tried to hide a blush, but wasn't successful before Brock noticed. Ash was totally consumed in his food and didn't observe it. While Paul didn't even look up.

"Boring" Dawn said in a not so convincing voice. "We just went to sleep, that's all." She alleged. "What about you guys? She asked, hoping to re-direct the discussion.

Brock answered, but Dawn wasn't paying attention, all she could think about was _him. _Paul remained silent through all of this, and basically until the end of the meal.

Ash helped clear the plates; Dawn folded the blanket and was going to give it back. But before she could, Paul got up and returned his pokemon. He thanked Brock for the food and turned his back to leave.

He started walking on a path through the forest heading to the nearest town, after about 20 seconds or so, Dawn came running after him, forgetting the blanket.

"Paul, are you just going to leave like that? We didn't even talk."

Paul kept walking, "as far as I'm concerned, there's nothing to talk about"

She kept following him, confused and concerned.

Silence.

Finally, with a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach she began, "but… don't you remember? Last night… we…"

"Kissed, yeah, don't remind me" He snapped coldly and continued on with his hands in he pockets.

"But…" she stopped walking after him.

He turned to look at her with his stone cold face. "I have to go, I don't have time to talk to a silly girl like you" and with that said, Paul left.

Dawn just stood there, watching him walk away as she felt a single tear stream down her face. She wasn't quite sure what happened but she knew her heart was broken and so many emotions were running through her as Paul just came and went like that.

'God, why does she want to bring that up again, it was a mistake, it should have never happened, I should have gotten that brat off my shoulder when I had the chance.' He mumbled to himself.

She quickly wiped the tears away, remembering how close her friends were to her. 'Was it all a lie? Did I read the signs wrong? But it couldn't be… He kissed me, and…' Her face fell, as she turned to walk back, still in shock and couldn't believe what was happening, but she put on a fake smile for her friends and pokemon. 'No need to worry them' she thought, depressed.

Dawn got back to the picnic area holding back tears, trying not to show emotion to her friends. She recalled all of her pokemon except for Piplup. The Area was now clean and they were ready to go. Dawn didn't say a word.

They planned to stop at a nearby river before heading to the same town that Paul was going to. They started walking and she quickly fell a few steps behind.

"Dawn?" Brock asked concerned, she looked up with a fake smile. "What did you talk to Paul about?"

"Oh nothing, she said, I just wanted to thank him for letting me in out of the rain, that's all, no need to worry Brock, everything's fine."

He didn't believe her, but decided to let it go. They kept walking and she was still a couple of feet behind.

She was starting to come to reality with what happened. She replayed the whole scene in her head. The cold rain, the kiss, the warm boy, the rejection, it was all real now, it had happened, Paul was not the person she thought he was. He was cold and inconsiderate and a complete jerk!

She felt a tear roll down her red face, then another, and before she knew it, she was balling on the ground. Ash and Brock ran over to her and piplup was trying its best to confer her. She sat and cried and cried, covering her face from her friends.

They were worried. Brock knew something was up with Paul, but his wisdom told him not to mention anything.

And Ash, well, he was just clueless and tried to calm his friend down.

After a little while, Dawn stopped weeping, it had made her feel better, but that wasn't saying much. She stood up, wiped her hot tears and put on a fake smile. "I-I'm fine guys, lets go" She said and Brock and Ash didn't want to upset her anymore, so they just kept walking.

Dawn stayed behind and tried desperately to hide her feelings and mixed emotions.

'Why him!' she thought, still depressed and ready to cry again. 'Of all the people in this world, why do I have to like him?' Her emotions were going wild inside her, but she couldn't let her friends know how sad she was. 'Ugh he makes me so mad! But…

I love him.'


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N** possibly the last chapter

~enjoy

* * *

Over the past few days Ash and the gang have been traveling to the nearest town, the same one that Paul was heading too.

Dawn has been so quiet, unlike her usual talkative self. Brock was very suspicious of her but didn't want to get involved with it; he figured it might be just a girl problem.

Dawn has been sad, and tries to hide her emotions form her friends and pokemon but they know something is wrong. She often goes out for a 'training session' alone in the woods just to think about that one night, but she often ends up crying. She comes back from training looking worse then before and her cheeks are is worried about her; even Ash knows something is up.

She woke up this morning looking depressed and not her happy self, this has become a common thing for her.

"What's the matter Dawn?" Brock asked.

She looked up at him and gave a fake smile. "Nothing Brock, nothing at all." She said falsely, waving her hands in front of her.

She tried to burry her sad, confused, angry, and frustrated emotions by not thinking about anything. She hides her emotions and has no expression on her face. She is just numb and goes through her day like this with no enthusiasm in her voice and no pep in her step, and looking like she's on the verge of crying... again.

A few hours before lunch was going to be ready, she could barrly handle what was going on in her head without crying. "I'm going to go train." She said with a sad voice as she walked away into the forest, far enough where her friends couldn't hear her.

With a sigh she said "Piplup, use bubble beam on that tree."

"Piplup…" It said with a concerned voice.

"Good job." She said on the brink of tears.

While she continued her training, Paul saw her from behind. He notices that she doesn't seem peppy, or happy for that matter, and she's not putting any enthusiasm in her training. 'Why is she acting so different?' He thought 'Why have I been thinking about her so much? Is it affecting my training too? Ugh! Why do I care!...

Why? Because…

I love her. Dimmit!' While he was thinking, his body was moving and with that last thought he realized that he was walking over to her training spot. He stopped, ready to go back, but it was too late, she saw him.

She looked surprised at first, then mad, finaly showing some emotion. "Piplup return!" she said louder than necessary. "What do you want?" she said sharply.

His face looked the same as it always did. And his hands were in his pockets as he walked a few steps closer.

"Go away!" she hissed, thinking 'why is he here? He doesn't care about me!' He took one step closer; they were about five steps away now.

"Stop! I don't want to see you!" she raised her voice at him, holding back the tears.

'Ugh!' she thought as he stepped closer

'Why I am I so emotional about him! What does it matter if I like him, he doesn't love me. It Hopeless!'

he takes another step,

'I should just run away right now. And I'll never see him again!'

Another step

'why is he still coming closer?'

she was angry at him, her face was red with hatred, but also with nerves as he came closer.

She felt two hot tears roll down her face.

Paul silently took the final steps up to watched her red face with tears down her cheeks.

She stood there, looking at him angrily breathing heavely.

Then he took one of his hands out of his pocket and wiped away a tear on her cheek. But she slapped his hand away from him and yelled "get away from me!"

Paul almost gave a surprised look on his face, but it really hadn't changed.

"I hate you!" she screamed, tears rolling down her face.

She started to turn to run away, but Paul's swift movement caught her looked surprised as he turned her toward him. She was silent, face still red but not so angry.

"Calm, down" he said smoothly.

'What does he…' her thought was interrupted by the soft kiss that was placed on her lips. More tears slowly moved down her face, Paul moved away and wiped the hot tears off of her cheek again. Dawn was paralyzed, she didn't move. Paul was still holding on to her arm, but not so tightly now.

She just looked at him, then, as if her emotional rain cloud opened up, she started crying; she grabbed on to Paul and squeezed her eyes shut as she cried.

Paul at first didn't move. But as he saw her clinging to him he felt sorry for her. All the emotions and pain he put her through. He placed his arm around her and lightly stroked her hair with his other hand.

She was still crying on his chest, letting out all of her frustration, and pain. After about a minute or two she slowly stopped crying and her face turned red. 'Look at me, I look like an idiot! Crying on him like that.' She thought, and then she blushed harder as she realized he was still stroking her hair.

She was about to remove her head from his chest when she heard him mumble "I'm Sorry" she looked surprised. She raised her head to look at him, she was still hugging him and he had his hand on her head and his arm around her. Her tears were gone and she was speechless as he returned the gaze at her.

"W-What?" she said quietly.

"Sorry" he mumbled again and looked away.

She smiled at him, then she hugged him tighter, and put her head back on his chest. "Thanks" she said happily for the first time in days.

"Humph" he said as he rolled his eyes.

She removed herself from him and smiled."Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this, I promise"

Paul quietly nodded his head; he put his hands back in his pockets and turned around to leave. Dawn watched as he walked away. Her heart was fluttering and she was happy.

She ran back to where Ash and Brock were with a smile still on her face, and her tears all gone. She returned happily ready for lunch.

"Hey Dawn!" Ash greeted, happy to see a smile on her face.

"Hey how was your training session Dawn?" Brock asked.

She sat down at the picnic table and smiled as she replied. "It was the best."

Brock smiled, clearly happy to hear this, he continued preparing lunch, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Paul walking away from a distance.

"That good Dawn, I'm glad you're happy again" he said with a smug look on his face.

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**A/N** ok, so that could be the end, i'm not sure. Comment if you want me to keep going because i don't know if i should or not.


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, so i decided to keep working on the story! YAY!. And i apologize to everyone. My sister deleted all my stories so i had to re-upload them. so that will probably screw up my reveiws and suscriptions or what ever. SORRY! it was my sister! Well anyways on with the story...

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After some more days of walking, and Dawn's memory in the forest, Ash, Brock, and Dawn, (along with piplup and pikachu) were getting near a little town.

Dawn was now back to her happy, giddy self and couldn't wait to get to the town and see Paul. "Look there's the town!" Dawn exclaimed happily and started running right to it.

"Slow down Dawn!" Ash yelled, running after her with Brock following.

Dawn arrived at the pokemon center first, expectantly looking for that certain purple haired trainer. But to her dismay, he wasn't there. She sighed, but put on a smile for Nurse Joy. "Hi Nurse Joy!" Dawn greeted cheerfully. Ash now walked into the center to see Dawn at the counter. "Can we please get a room for three?" She asked politely.

"Sure" Nurse Joy said with a blissful smile as she handed the room key #42 to Dawn.

Brock had entered now but Dawn Pulled his arm forcing him to follow her and not be distracted my Nurse Joy. The three of them walked to the back of the center where the rooms were located. '40… 41… 42!' Dawn counted in her head. She entered the key and Ash barged in claiming a top bunk on the left side of the Called the top bunk on the right and Brock took the bunk under Ash's.

They all unpacked their things and Dawn was reminded of the blanket she never gave back. She held it and smiled, it brought back memories.

After every thing was unpacked, they all went down to the cafeteria for dinner. Ash ate the most of the three, something that was pretty typical of him. Brock and Dawn finished at almost the same time, while the rest of their pokemon were being taken care of by Nurse Joy. Pikachu and Piplup stayed out as usual though. After a little while, the three went outside.

There was still a while before sunset, due to them eating an early dinner. Ash wanted to train some more with Pikachu, despite having just eaten and Brock decide to watch and give tips. Dawn on the other hand wanted to go shopping.

"I want to see if I can get a new dress for the next contest." She said.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Brock asked, considering he did most of the shopping.

"No that's okay" Dawn replied. "Piplup and I will be fine." She said looking up and her pokemon that was resting on her white with pink hat. Dawn grabbed her yellow bag from their room and set off happily to go shopping.

After a couple of minutes, she arrived at a small block, filled with small shops. She walked down the sidewalk, gazing at all the things displayed in the windows. She stopped to look at an especially beautiful blue dress.

She looked up at the penguin pokemon on her head. "What do you think Pip…" She was suddenly cut off by her bag being forcefully ripped from her hand. "Hey!" She said, turning angrily around. Only to see some strange man running away with her yellow bag.

She became even angrier, "robber!" she shouted as she ran after the culprit.

"Piplup use bubble beam!" she shouted, still chasing the man. The bubble beam failed to reach the man who was clearly running faster than the girl.

In the process, piplup fell off of her hat and onto the ground. "Piplup!" Dawn exclaimed, stopping to help her friend up. Now she had fallen really behind in the chase and saw him turn the corner running away.

She followed best she could, but now that he had a huge lead, she knew it was nearly impossible for her to catch him. As she turned the corner swiftly, she ran into a nearby bystander, and they both fell to the ground. "Oww…" She groaned. She sat on her hands and knees and piplup was at her side, frustrated that it couldn't do anything, watching the robber get away.

Then suddenly the earth began to shake, 'an earthquake!'

Dawn panicked, but then saw the robber trip. Vine like roots sprouted from the ground and held the thief in his place. Then sirens were herd and Officer Jenny came up to the man on her motorcycle.

Dawn was watching this from afar, still on the ground, as a torterra came into view, obviously the one using frenzy plant on the robber.

"Are you okay?" She herd a familiar voice come from behind her. Her eyes widened as she turned her head to see him.

Paul.

Her heart sped up and she almost blushed."y-yeah" she said, lifting one knee up so that her foot was flat on the ground.

Paul moved so that he was now in front of her.

She attempted to lift the other but quickly lost balance and started to fall. Paul Swiftly caught her and wrapped his arm around her waist, helping her re-gain some knee was scraped and it hurt.

They were right outside an ice cream parlor and there were tiny two-person tables out front as well as matching metal chars.

Paul helped Dawn sit down, and she thought she herd him mumble something, but couldn't make it out.

Piplup crawled onto Dawns lap, it's head still hurt from the fall, but it didn't want to show any weakness, especially not in front of Paul.

"Thanks" She said looking at him in front of her. She totally forgot about the whole robbery until Officer Jenny came over to talk to Dawn.

"You were the victim correct?" She said talking to Dawn.

"Yes" She replied, trying not to think about her scrapped knee.

"Then this must belong to you." Jenny said handing the yellow bag to the blue haired trainer.

"Thank you Officer" Dawn said, grabbing the bag and making a quick check to see that all of her belongings were there. Paul got up and recalled torterra now that the thief was in handcuffs and under control.

"You really shouldn't be shopping alone you know" Said Jenny.

Dawn looked at Paul who sat back down, "I'm not alone anymore" She said with a smile. Paul looked away, pretending not to have interest.

"Okay, stay safe you two" Jenny said with a wink, which made Dawn blush slightly. Paul got up with out a word as Officer Jenny left; he went inside the ice cream store and walked to the counter.

'What is he doing? Is he buying ice cream? … I hope he buys me some.' She thought watching him talk to the clerk. But instead of ice cream, the clerk pulled out a first aid kit, which Paul accepted and walked back out side.

He placed the kit on the small table, grabbed some disinfectant and kneeled in front of Dawn. "Hold still" He said, well, more like commanded.

"What are you…Ow!" she cried, "That stings"

He just sighed. "Well, what did you expect?"

She had no smart reply, and just released her tight grip on piplup that she wasn't aware of until now."Sorry Piplup…" she muttered to her small pokemon and patted his head.

"Ready to go?" Paul asked getting up in the process.

"Wait…" she called.

"What now?"

"Well… I was kinda hoping we could get some ice cream, I mean, we're right here anyway, so."

Paul stared at her with his expressionless face.

"Please?" She begged as she stood up. He sighed. "Yay!" Dawn exclaimed as she skipped inside, her knee obviously feeling better.

After a short while, the sun was finally beginning to set and Dawn and Paul had finished their ice cream. Paul got up and asked a familiar question that Dawn would have to get used to. "Are you ready to go?"

She stood up as well, with piplup resting on her hat. "Yeah"

He started waling down the side walk back toward the pokemon center. Dawn ran a little to catch up with him and grabbed on to his arm. He was taken aback at her sudden clingy-ness, but didn't say anything. Paul generally was not a romantic person, he decided to leave that part to Dawn.

They walked in unison, Dawn was extremely happy as a thought crossed her mind. "You know Paul…" she started, "This is our first date together." She said with a smile.

He smirked at the idea. But was secretly happy to be with her. Even if the little annoying pokemon came too.

And they continued walking happily all the way to the pokemon center.

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Okay, tell me what you think :)


	6. Chapter 6

When they arrived at the Center, the sun was halfway down. Dawn didn't see Ash or Brock outside to her relief, and assumed they were in the room.

They walked inside the glass doors to see a joyful Nurse Joy at the counter typing something on her monitor. Dawn left Paul's side and ran up to the counter where the pink haired woman was. Dawn took the small penguin pokemon off of her head and set him on the counter.

"Nurse Joy, will you please take care of Piplup for the night? The rest of my pokemon are with you as well."

Nurse Joy smiled, "Why of course, that's no problem at all."

"Thank you" Dawn happily replied. Dawn turned around to see Paul starting to walk towards the hall where the rooms were, in the back. She was surprised that he waited for her. She jogged up to him and they walked side by side in silence.

"So," Dawn started. "I'm in room 42, where are you?"

Paul looked annoyed at her for breaking the silence, but didn't want to get mad. Recently he has been having conflicting emotions like this; it was starting to bug him. He was caught between his love for Dawn and his usually cold hearted self. So instead, he just kept quiet and tried not to talk, which made Dawn feel awkward.

"48" He replied calmly. Dawn was relived that he broke the silence, she often felt that she did all of the talking and was annoying him. Honestly, they both had their doubts about their relationship. Something needed to was admiring Paul, but Paul tried to hide his emotions. Dawn secretly wanted attention that he wasn't giving her because he was conflicted. It was really confusing.

They arrived at room 42. "Good night Paul" Dawn whispered, hopping the two inside wouldn't hear them. He nodded, and walked down the hall to his room. He had a lot to think about, which he wasn't looking forward to. Paul wasn't a really emotional type person.

Dawn entered her room. Brock was in the bathroom brushing his teeth, and Ash was at a small table writing some letters. 'Probably to misty' dawn thought with a snicker. She flung her bag up on her top bunk and sat down on the bed under hers.

She thought about Paul, he's been acting different, he doesn't talk too much and he's not being his usual sarcastic self. She doesn't feel bad, just not entirely happy.

Dawn herd some water running, then a squeaky faucet handle. Brock entered from the bathroom. "Hey Dawn, did you buy a new dress?"

"No, I decided the one I have now will be fine for my next contest." She replied.

Ash looked up from his letter and turned. "Whoa, Dawn, when did you get here?" She giggled a little; he turned back to writing his letter.

After a while of small talk, Dawn thought it was time to go to bed. After all, they were going to be leaving in the morning. She went to the bathroom and changed in to some pajamas. She wore a light pink tank top with short white shorts. She took off her hat and golden clips and brushed her hair.

She climbed up on her bed to get her toothbrush from her bag. 'Why didn't I unpack this earlier?' she wondered. But when she reached her bag, she noticed something else up there. 'The blanket!'

She grabbed it and hopped down from her bunk. She ran to the door on impulse and opened it. "I'll be right back" She said closing the door behind her before either of the boys could ask any questions.

Dawn took a deep breath, and hugged the folded blanket to her chest. She was nervous, but wasn't sure why. 'I should be happy to see him…right?' She walked over to number 48 and stood there for a moment before knocking on the door.

Seconds went by before the door opened. Paul stood there with his angry expression on as always. 'Oh my God he's not wearing a shirt!' Dawn thought as she felt her face get hot. "Umm… I brought you your blanket" she said, trying not to think about him with out a shirt.

She held out the blanket with one hand, it was folded neatly. Paul didn't say a word; he had a lot of time to think and knew what he was going to do. He reached out his hand to grab the blanket. But instead he grabbed her wrist. Dawn looked at him with surprise, a red tint on her cheeks. She allowed her self to be pulled by the shirtless trainer, and felt almost embarrassed about herself wearing a skimpy outfit, but she decided to just let things happen.

Paul pulled her close. She moved her hands onto his bare chest and enjoyed the kiss. His arms wrapped around her, one by her head and one around her waist.

She slowly moved her hands to his shoulders, their kissing became more passionate, there was a need to be closer to each other. Dawn's arms wrapped around his neck, they were so close, yet not close enough. She felt Paul move his hand from her head, down her shoulder and to her waist.

'Mmm…' she thought, with a smile, 'I'm with Paul, and it's perfect...' She took a small step forward, causing him to take one back. ' and he's not wearing a shirt…' She attempted to take another step forward, but Paul quietly ended the kiss.

She opened her eyes, the blanket was on the ground, nobody even noticed. She looked at him with a slight pout on her face, mixed in with some confusion.

Paul chuckled, before leaning down and giving her one last kiss on the forehead. "Good night." He said plainly.

She smiled and hugged him, feeling her arms around his chest. "Good night Paul, see you in the morning." He didn't reply because he knew that this wouldn't be true.

Dawn broke away from the hug and walked back to her room, happy. Paul bent over and picked up the blanket on the ground. Forever a memory of her. He closed the door and went to bed.

When Dawn returned to her room, Brock noticed that her hair was slightly messy, despite her attempt to fix it, and that her face was pink.

He decided not to comment, but now was putting all the pieces together. Dawn went to the bathroom after grabbing her toothbrush, and got ready for bed. The boys were sitting on their beds, waiting for Dawn to go turn off the light. She did, and then climbed on her top bunk. "Good night guys" She said.

"Good night" Ash and Brock replied in unison, followed by Pikachu's chime in. They all went to sleep. Dawn simply could not wait for tomorrow, she closed her eyes, only thinking about Paul. She felt so much better and she knew he did too.


	7. Chapter 7

"Wake up Dawn!" yelled a voice from below her. The bluentte mumbled a little and turned on her side, snuggling close into the blankets. "Dawn!" Ash said again. "Wake up; we're going to go soon." She yawned and rubbed one of her eyes as she propped her self up with her other arm.

Dawn sat up and stretched her arms above her head. Memories of last night's blanket delivery flooded her mind and she giggled. "Mmmm, good morning" she said in a cheerful tone.

"Good morning Dawn." Brock said, he was already fully dressed and was packing up his backpack.

Dawn got down from her top bunk, grabbed her bag and happily danced to the bathroom and shut the door. A little while later, she came out fully dressed and of course with perfect hair (with a little help from Piplup though). "Okay, I'm ready," she said, wishful that she could at least get a glimpse of Paul as they left the pokemon quickly packed up her yellow bag and left the room with Ash and Brock.

Paul was walking out side, heading toward the forest that he would be traveling in for the next few days. He had done some serious thinking about himself. And soon his thoughts wandered to Dawn. The peppy, happy, cheerful, nice, cute, loving… He shook his head. '… I have to tell her sometime.'

He kept walking, and was currently about a hundred yards from the pokemon center, it would be still in view if he turned around.

The sun was still rising as it was only about 9:00. Ash and Dawn exited the pokemon center, followed by crogrunk pulling a love struck Brock by the leg.

"Alright! Let's go!" Ash shouted enthusiastically as he began running toward the forest.

"Wait up Ash!" Dawn cried, carrying Piplup in her arms.

Suddenly Ash stopped running. There was a cry from his beloved yellow friend as a red robotic hand picked up pikachu and headed toward the meowth shaped balloon in the sky.

"Ahahaha" squealed a red headed Jessie.

The annoying team rocket recited their motto as Ash, Dawn, and Brock (who was now standing) patiently waited.

"Pikachu! Use thunder bolt!" Ash ordered. And as usual, it didn't work.

"Piplup!" Dawn commanded "Use whirlpool!" the blue pokemon began to start its whirlpool attack.

"I don't think so." Said Meowth, as he pressed a button on a fancy remote that seemed to control the hand holding pikachu. Suddenly, out of the bottom of the green balloon basket, a big metal tube came out and began sucking up everything.

Piplup, who had never had a chance to launch its whirlpool attack, was being sucked into the machine.

"Oh no! Piplup!" Dawn exclaimed.

The robotic arm holding pikachu released its grip, and the mouse pokemon was sucked into the metal tube.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried, and soon enough Ash too was being lifted into the air by the huge vacuum. Upon seeing this, Brock, and Dawn began to run away, trying to escape the suction of the machine.

Jessie and James were laughing while Meowth was gladly controlling the metal tube.

"Happini, help us out!" Brock ordered as the small pink pokemon came cheerfully out of its pokeball. Dawn and Brock were struggling against the current of wind as Happini helped pull them out of the suction area.

Ash, Piplup and Pikachu were in a big glass container that was connected to the tube. James told Meowth to kill the switch.

"Lets go Meowth" Said Jessie, "we already have what we want, plus an annoying little twerp and a piplup that will go nicely with the boss."

"Yeah, we should quit while we're ahead" James chimed in, followed by a "Wabaffete!" And quickly, team rocket left the scene, headed into the forest that Ash and gang were going to be traveling into anyways.

"Great! Now what do we do?" Dawn whined.

"We have to go get Ash, pikachu and piplup back." Brock said.

"Right" Dawn replied, and they headed into the forest.

Brock remembered to recall Happini and crogunk as they walked along a path that the suspected team rocket followed. The path was along side a cliff that headed about 15 feet down. Brock walked closest to the cliff side because Dawn was afraid of heights, and didn't want to keep looking down.

The path got narrower and Brock had to move slightly more toward the edge of the cliff, though he still wasn't in any danger of falling down. That was until there were some loose rocks that he happened to step on. Uh oh.

Brock clumsily fell down and landed in the belly flop position on the grassy ground.

"Brock, are you okay?" Dawn yelled from above. Brock just grunted as he got up.

"Yeah, I'm okay Dawn, just keep following the path, we'll meet up again."

"Uh, Okay Brock" she replied. Dawn was now even more cautious then before with her walking, and made sure not to get too close the edge of the cliff. 'Wow I'm all alone, separated from my friends and Piplup. I guess all I can do now is to keep walking…' Dawn trudged on, hoping to see someone, or some pokemon, anything to distract her from being alone.

Meanwhile, Brock was calculating if there was a river nearby. He knew that it would be a likely place to meet back up with Dawn, and possibly team Rocket as well. He pulled out his map and studied it as he walked. 'Let's see, there is a river not to far from here. If I keep walking at this pace…' his thought was interrupted upon bumping into something.

Paul.

The purple headed trainer scolded at the breeder for running into him.

"Oh, hey Paul," Brock greeted.

"Watch where you're going" Paul said.

"Sorry, I was reading this map." Paul looked around Brock only to see that Ash and Dawn weren't there with him. Brock caught a glimpse of Paul looking around and said, "I got separated from Ash and Dawn, and now I'm headed toward the river.

"Humph" Paul retorted.

"Ash got kidnapped by team rocket, and Dawn and I are worried about him."

'Dawn is worried about that loser?'

Brock continued. "We were on our way to save him, but I got separated from Dawn."

"Figures Ash would get kidnapped." Paul replied.

"Well it wasn't his fault; in fact, Dawn and I were almost kidnapped too."

'Stupid Ash, always putting Dawn in danger.'

"I hope Dawn does alright by her self."

"I wouldn't worry too much about her if I were you" Brock didn't say anything, unsure by what he ment by that comment. There was a brief moment of silence before Brock spoke up again.

"Paul… is there… something going on between you and Dawn?"

Paul's face changed emotion for once, he looked, surprised, taken off guard. But he quickly regained his posture, it was almost impossible to tell if he changed his emotion or not. "No, why would there be?" He stated in a plain voice.

"I don't know, you just seem to be around a lot lately, and, stuff has been going on with Dawn. I just wanted to see if there was a connection."

"Well there isn't." 'At least, there won't be… maybe...'

"Oh, I see. So where are you headed to?"

"The next town"

"Us too, after we rescue Ash of course."

"I gatta go" Paul said, almost cruelly, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Okay bye Paul" Brock said, but Paul gave no acknowledgement of the goodbye. Brock continued walking toward the river, picking up his map again. And Paul walked off in a different direction, heading off the trail.

Dawn was getting nervous. It was about lunch time, and she didn't have that much food with her. She wandered of the path slightly and sat on a log. She released all of her pokemon and brought out the food. Dawn made sure to ration it carefully so that mamoswine wouldn't eat all of it.

Then Dawn got out a sandwich for herself. After lunch, she recalled all of her pokemon and went back to the trail. She decided to just follow the path and hoped it led somewhere. Hours later and Dawn could have sworn she was going in circles. 'Ugh, why does this always happen to me? Lost, with no map, no friends, and no food.'

She found a spot close to the trail and decided to set up camp for the night. 'Great, I guess we all have to go to bed hungry.' Dawn looked at her poketch, it was 7:00 and there was no food. She sighed as night fall began to set.

Dawn started a fire with the help of cindiquil. The sun was sinking and the sky was turning pink when she saw someone walking down the trail. Dawn stood up and walked over to get a better view of the person. 'Maybe its Brock or someone with food' she thought, clearly her stomach was doing all the thinking.

But as she came closer, her eyes widened and a smile overtook her face. She ran out to the trail.

"Paul!" she exclaimed as she went over and hugged the surprised trainer.

Paul was confused at first as to why a person was hugging him. But he then realized who the person was, and he relaxed slightly, but still uncomfortable with the hug.

Dawn raised her head from his chest to look at him, and as she did, she reached up and planted her lips to his. Paul removed his hands from his pockets and brought them to her waist.

Dawn smiled and placed her arms around his neck, deepening the slow kiss.

One of Dawn's hands traveled to Paul's shoulder, then slowly down his arm. She followed his arm until she reached his hand. She placed her hand on top of his and began to end the kiss. She moved his hand from her waist to her hip, and then finally stopping the kiss, she intertwined their fingers. She smiled as she began to lead him to her camp site.


	8. Chapter 8

"Where are we going?" a voice asked her.

"Right here" she said, pointing to her small campfire.

"Oh"

Dawn removed her hand from his warm fingers and sat down on a log. Paul sat next to her and stared at the fire.

"So… what are you doing here?" she asked, trying to start a conversation.

"I'm headed to the next town, to do some more training."

"hmm, well you were going the way I was before setting up camp, so that means I must have been going the right way."Dawn thought out loud.

Paul just nodded before saying, "I thought you were trying to find Ash?"

"Yeah I was… hey how did you know that?"

Paul turned his head toward her, "I ran into your friend, he told me"

"Oh, did he mention me?"

"Yeah, he said you two were separated."

Dawn smiled and leaned in close to Paul.

He just stared at the fire, pretending to have no interest, when in reality, his heart was pumping faster.

She said in a seductive voice, "were you worried about me?"

Paul just turned to look at her, keeping his breathing steady and calm. He watched her for a quick moment but couldn't control the smirk crossing his face, "should I be?"

Dawn was about to make a smart remark, but as she opened her mouth, she heard her stomach rumble. She sweat dropped and Paul chuckled.

Dawn sat up straight and covered her stomach with her arms. "Uh, sorry, I sort of, ran out of food..."

Paul sighed as he stood up. He knelt down to his backpack and pulled out a sandwich, he was going to save it for breakfast, but they were pretty close the next town and he could wait. "Here" he said, tossing the sandwich to Dawn.

She caught it and looked up at him. She smiled warmly, "thanks" Dawn opened the wrapping and began to eat the sandwich. Paul went back to his backpack and got out his sleeping bag. It was now around 7:30 and the sun was fully set. Dawn watched Paul set up his dark blue sleeping bag by the fire. She watched him zip up his bag afterwards, and she watched him as he stood back up.

"What?" he asked.

Dawn blinked her eyes and woke up from her gaze. "Huh?"

"You were staring at me."

"Oh sorry" She replied sheepishly. "I was just thinking…"She trailed off, "never mind." And she took another bite of sandwich.

Paul went to go brush his teeth, then came back two minutes later. He walked over to the fire and began poking it with a stick. "Thinking about what?"

Dawn looked at him, slightly surprised at him keeping up the conversation.

"Abou-" she was cut off by some nearby bushes rustling. She looked over to see nothing.

Paul moved over toward Dawn who was now standing.

They stood there for a few seconds in suspenseful silence.

The atmosphere was tense and the only sound in the dark was the crackling fire.

Some bushes behind Dawn moved again, causing her to startle and grab on to Paul's shoulders. Paul's immediate reflex was to turn toward the sound and place his hand on one of his pokeballs.

Paul was standing there with one hand in his pocket, gripping the small capsule and his other hand clenched at his side. Dawn was now positioned behind Paul, using both hands to hold onto his shoulders.

The bushes moved once more as suspense filled the air. Paul's grip tightened on the tiny ball, as he pushed the small white button which led the ball to grow in size. He pulled out the pokeball just as the pokemon emerged from the tall bushes.

Paul felt the grip on his shoulders loosen. Dawn breathed a sigh of relief, and Paul but the pokeball back in his pocket.

What was in the bushes?

Well it was a wandering seedot.

Dawn let go of Paul's shoulders and took a deep breath. Paul bent down and picked up a rock, then threw it in the direction of the acorn pokemon and it scurried away.

Dawn sat back down and picked up the half eaten sandwich on the log. Paul went over to his closed sleeping bag and sat criss-crossed were the pillow should then put his hands on the ground and and leaned back slightly. He looked up at the stars, while Dawn finished her sandwich.

She looked at her poketch, it was now about eight, and they would have to wake up early if they wanted to save Ash. She got out her sleeping bag, and set it next to Paul's, and then she got out her toothbrush and brushed her teeth using some water from a water bottle.

She changed into her pajamas behind some bushes. She wore the same PJ's as before, with the light pink tank top and short white shorts. Dawn took off her hat and golden clips and placed them in her bag.

Paul was starring at the stars, thinking about Dawn. He had a big decision on his mind, and for some reason, his logical brain could not decide the outcome of the situation. 'If I tell her, things might not go over well…' he closed his eyes in deep thought, 'but if I don't tell her, she will never know…' He felt something on his lap. His train of thought was interrupted as he sat up completely.

Paul now was sitting criss cross at the top of his sleeping bag. Dawn was lying on her back on his sleeping bag with her head resting in Paul's lap. He looked down to see the blunette. She had her hands clasped on her stomach and her knees bent so that her feet were on the ground.

Paul looked down at her as she looked up at him. "Hello" she said with a smile on her face. Paul put on hand on her cheek, then brought it up and played with her hair. Dawn closed her eyes and let him run his hand through her blue locks.

"So," she began, "What time do you think we should wake up and go save Ash?" She opened her eyes to look at the stars; Paul continued to stroke her hair as she began to program her poketch to wake them up.

"You're really worried about him huh?"

'Hmm, could Paul be jealous?' she thought, suppressing a giggle. 'Let's find out…' "Well…yeah, he's one of my best friends. I mean, I know what his goal is, who his friends are, what he likes and dislikes…" She looked up at Paul to see his face expressions. "You know, I probably know him better then you…"

Paul looked down at her with this last remark.

"Are you jealous?" she asked sweetly. Paul stared at her; he looked _slightly_ more angry then usual but it was hard to tell. 'Yup, he's defiantly jealous' Dawn held back a smile.

"You know what my goal is," Paul began, "I don't have friends. I like training and I dislike many things. And no," he bent down closer to Dawn's face "I'm not jealous."

Shivers went down Dawn's back. She giggled as she sat up. She was sitting on her knees facing Paul. "Are you sure?" She said leaning in close.

"Positive." Paul replied as he leaned in to complete the light kiss. Dawn closed her eyes and slowly responded to the kiss. She leaned in toward Paul, getting closer, and then she placed one of her hands gently on his chest where his jacket was unzipped.

The kiss was still slow as Dawn placed her hands on Paul's shoulders, under his jacket but over his shirt.

She pulled away; her face was inches away from his. Paul opened his eyes; he was calm, cool and collected. "Are you hot?" Dawn asked in a whisper. He just smirked. Dawn began to kiss him slowly again. She slid her hands down his arms, bringing them closer and causing his jacket to unzip.

Soon Paul's jacket was on the ground and Dawn was pressing up against him, forcing Paul to the floor. She was propping her self up with one hand, the other was pressing on his chest.

'I have to tell her…' Paul thought, pushing back Dawn. She was semi-surprised that they were both now sitting. Dawn kissed more passionately, running a hand through his purple hair.

"Dawn" Paul said in a muffled whisper.

Dawn gave no response.

"… I love you…" Paul barely managed to say. It was so faint, that at first Dawn didn't hear him. She continued to kiss him as if nothing happened. But then she stopped. Her eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped. Paul took notice and opened his eyes.

"W-What?" she stuttered. Paul froze, his heart dropped as he felt all of his fears were confirmed, he wasn't sure what to say or do. It was a situation that he was rarely in.

Dawn looked with stunned eyes at Paul. They began to sparkle as small tears formed in them. 'I knew this would happen…' he thought as he looked at the ground to his left, unsure of what to do next. He felt a weird sensation of guilt for making her cry.

"Did you say what I think you said? Dawn breathed out. Paul looked up at her and she began to smile as a tiny tear rolled down her cheek.

Now Paul was confused. Dawn laughed and hugged Paul tight. She was a very dramatic person. "I love you too, I always did…" She said as Paul awkwardly hugged her back.

He was completely out of his element, being hugged and saying mushy things like 'I love you'.

"We should get to sleep" he said, trying to ease his discomfort.

Dawn nodded and whipped away her stray tears. She crawled into her yellow sleeping bag that was next to Paul's blue one. Paul set his jacket on the log and fed the fire once more before climbing in to his sleeping bag.

'I can't believe he told me that!' she screamed in her head. Dawn was giddy with excitement as she closed her eyes tight. She took a deep breath and reopened them. Dawn was now calmer. 'Well,' she thought 'I guess I kind of always knew that, I mean, why else would he kiss me that night in the cave…' her mind was now filled with the memories of that night.

Paul was getting settled in and looked over at Dawn who was smiling with her eyes closed. 'Humph' he thought with a smirk, turning so that his back was facing Dawn. He was happy that Dawn was happy, and that was his last thought before he fell asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

Beep Beep Beep

Beep Beep Beep.

'Ugh…' Dawn kept her eyes closed as she subconsciously pressed the button to stop the alarm.

She let out as she groan as she turned on her side, only to run into Paul. Dawn was still half asleep and only knew one thing, whatever there was next to her, it was warm.

She wrapped her arm around Paul and rested her head on his chest, feeling his rhythmic slow breathing. It was now, (even with her eyes closed) that she realized where she was and fully woke up.

Dawn was lying on her side; her face pressed up against Paul's chest with one arm around him. And she now noticed that he had an arm around her shoulder. Dawn Blushed as she rolled back on her back. Paul was still asleep and Dawn's movements didn't seem to have an affect on that.

Trying to subside her blush, Dawn sat up, now feeling dumb for blushing for something as simple as hugging Paul.

She took a deep breath, attempted to fix her hair, and went to go get changed. She looked in the mirror to check her self, and was reminded of how much she missed Piplup. She sighed and put on her white hat and decided it was time to wake up Paul.

_It was just after sunset and_ _Dawn was kissing Paul just like last night. He felt something in his chest, and he knew what to do, he, needed to tell her… _

_'Dawn…' he faintly whispered, here goes everything, '…I love you…' he barely managed to mumble the three words as Dawn kissed him. _

_Then she stopped.' W-What?' she breathed. His heart sank as a look of confusion and disbelief were portrayed though her eyes. _

_Paul could see himself sitting there like an idiot, watching her walk away._

_ His heart was beating faster as she ran. _

_He stood up and was going to run after her. _

_But he was stopped by something brushing against his lips._

Paul opened his eyes to see a cheerful blunette smiling over him.

"Good morning." Dawn said with a smile. She then proceeded to gather all of her things.

Paul sat up and placed his hand on his forehead. 'God what a nightmare…' he felt blood rush to his face as he remembered how he woke up. Paul got up took a deep breath and went to go pack up.

"I really miss Piplup…" Dawn said out of the blue. Paul didn't look up; he just continued to roll up his sleeping bag.

"We'll get them back" he said in a plain tone. And despite that he said it with no emotion, it made Dawn feel better. After everything was packed and ready to go, Dawn was reminded of something important.

Food.

Both Dawn and Paul were out of food and they had not eaten anything science they woke up.

"Ugh… I'm hungry…" Whined Dawn as they started walking. "Brock has all the food and I don't have any. I bet my pokemon are hungry too. I wonder if piplup has had anything to eat. Ash must be starving, he always eats so much. Ugh I'm so hungry…"

"Will you stop complaining, we're going to the next town to get some food, and its right by the river that your friend was talking about."

Dawn let out a sigh, "are you suuurrreee you don't have any food?"

Paul stopped walking and turned around to face Dawn. It sent a shiver down her back. "No, I don't have any food, because you ate my last sandwich."

"Hey, you gave me that sandwich"

"I know, now stop complaining."

"Fine…" she mumbled. Dawn did not stay in a bad mood for more then ten seconds, she was soon her bubbly, happy go lucky self.

Paul was observing some of the pokemon around the area and could tell they were getting close to the river.

Dawn looked at her poketch, 'ugh, it's already 11:30, I'm starving!' "Are we almost there Paul?" She asked, trying not to sound like a nuisance.

Paul was cut from his train of thought and he remembered how hungry he was too. "Yeah, were getting close" he said.

Dawn sighed, "Well then…" straightened her posture and began marching, "lets go straight to the town!" Her new found enthusiasm was surprising to Paul as she marched passed him. Dawn kept marching, and after about a minute, the river was in view. A smile crossed Dawn's face "We made it!"

Paul was amused by her excitement over such a small event like finding a river.

Dawn turned to face Paul who was a few steps behind. But as she did Dawn was knocked on the ground. "Ow!" She cried as she immediately grabbed her right arm. Upon seeing this Paul ran over to Dawn and faced the big robotic machine that pushed her to the ground.

He was in front of her with his arms at his sides, ready to grab his pokeballs if needed. The big robot's head opened, Dawn knew exactly who would be inside. 'Stupid team rocket' she thought as she griped tighter on her arm.

But as the head opened, to her surprise, no one was inside. Instead there was a big monitor. Jessie, James, and Meowth came on the screen.

"Listen, is that a voice I hear?" Jessie started the motto. (I won't go through the whole motto…)

"Meowth that's right!"

The motto ended, with the chime in of "Wabaffete!"

"What do you want?" Dawn demanded.

"We want you to keep your noses out of our business. Your Piplup and Pikachu are ours now and there's nothing you can do about it." Jessie explained.

"What about Ash?" She asked, wincing in pain.

"That little twerp is a nuisance, we'll get rid of him later, but right now," A mechanical arm was heading toward Dawn on the ground. "We're going to take care of you so you twerps don't get in the way." The arm was getting closer, but Paul jumped in front of it and smacked it away.

"Don't. You. _Dare_. Touch. Her." He ordered, throwing out a pokeball in the process.

"Aww look Jessie" James said "The purple headed twerp is protecting his girlfriend."

This statement only caused Paul to get even madder. "Torterra! Use frenzy Plant."

Dawn observed all of this while holding onto her injured arm. She watched Paul defend her, again, and order Torterra to attack. She watched Torterra's frenzy Plant easily take down the lame robot, causing it to explode.

Paul recalled his pokemon and walked over to Dawn. She sat, waiting for what he was going to say, though she already had an idea. She braced her self for a lecture of some sort.

"You're so troublesome" He said sarcastically with a smirk.

He stood over her, looking at the girl who was staring at the ground with watery eyes. The smirk left his face, 'It was just a joke…' "Dawn-" He was cut off by the words that he least expected to hear from her,

"I'm sorry…"

He knelt down to her level

"Why?" Paul was genuinely confused as he could see Dawn fight back tears.

"I don't mean to be troublesome all the time."

A pang of guilt flooded through Paul. "Dawn, I was being sarcastic"

"I know, but, this is the second time you've saved me in 2 days. And I know I complain a lot and I'm talkative, and I get hurt… I'm just… troublesome."

This made Paul sigh, "Those things don't matter Dawn. I knew all of that before. But I'm still here."

Dawn looked at him, her hand still clutching her right arm. "Yeah, you're right."

"Are you ready to go?" Paul extended an arm; she took his hand and let him help her up. "Yeah, I'm hungry"

"I know."

The two began walking.

"The town is only 20 minutes away"

"Well the river is right here, and I don't see Brock, Maybe he's at the town too."

When they arrived at the town, Dawn's arm was starting to hurt less and less. They stopped at a pokemon center, healing their pokemon and grabbing some much needed food. It was one 'o clock and Dawn was worrying about Ash, Piplup and Pikachu.

"We should go find Brock" She said, coming back from throwing away her trash. Paul nodded as he stood up from the table they were sitting at. They got all of their pokemon from Nurse Joy and left the Pokemon center, ready to look for Brock. And they didn't have to look very long, the spotted him sitting on a bench feeding his pokemon some food.

"Brock!" Dawn shouted as she ran over to him.

Brock turned to look at her, "Hey Dawn" he said with a smile standing up.

"We were hopping to find you in town, that way we could go save Ash."

"We?" Brock asked.

But then Paul walked up casually with his hands in his pockets. "Oh, Paul's here too." Brock said noticing him. Paul was not interested in the small talk that was going on.

"Yeah, Paul and I ran into each other in the forest and we came here, looking for you, and some food. You know Brock, I only had one sandwich and a barely enough pokemon food for my pokemon."

"You must have been starving last night and this morning." Dawn decided not to tell Brock that Paul shared his sandwich with her. She had a feeling that he was already suspicious, and she didn't want to give him any ideas.

"Yes I was, but I just ate, what about you? I know you had all the food."

"Yeah sorry, I wasn't counting on the fact that we would be separated."

Paul now looked annoyed, this was a waste of time, and they were supposed to be traveling by now. Brock took a notice at Paul's slight impatience and agreed that they should go.

"Well, anyway, we should get going" He said looking at Paul and then Dawn.

"Yeah, but where are we going to look?" Dawn pondered. "Hmmm…"

There was a small moment of silence before Paul spoke up. "The river" He said. Brock and Dawn looked at Paul in puzzlement.

"Why the river?" Dawn spoke up.

"If team rocket attacked us there, they can't be too far."

"Team rocked attacked you guys?"

"Yeah," Dawn said rubbing her arm. "But they just sent a robot, and we were able to get rid of it."

"Oh, well I hope you guys didn't get hurt" Dawn remembered the whole scene in her head, how Paul protected her like that, and didn't get mad at her for being hurt.

"We're fine." She said with a smile, "Let's go."

"Okay." Brock grabbed his backpack and returned his pokemon. Paul started walking first, with his hands in his pockets of course. Brock and Dawn were walking side-by-side behind him. Brock was asking Dawn questions about the robot attack, which just made her think of Piplup.

She really missed Piplup. It made her more determined to beat team rocket and save everybody. And that was her last thought as they arrived at the river.


	10. Chapter 10

**Last chapter!

* * *

**

"I don't see anything." Dawn stated as the three of them returned to the river.

"Well they should be close by." Said Brock looking around.

Paul started walking down the river, Brock and Dawn of course followed. It wasn't long before a small cabin was in view. The three of them hid behind some bushes and thought of a plan while looking through the cabin window.

"Pikachu use thunder bolt!"

The yellow pokemon shot out a bolt of electricity from the small cage that it was contained in. The electricity made the cage glow a brilliant yellow and electrified the delibird that was perched on top of the cage. The red penguin like pokemon flew away from the cabin.

"Nice job Pikachu!" Ash shouted from the cage he was trapped in.

Both Pikachu and Piplup celebrated from team rocket's failure to deliver them to headquarters.

"Grrrr… That's the third delibird that flew away!" Jessie shouted. "You would think they would be smart enough not to keep landing on that cage!"

"Calm down Jessie" James said

"Yeah, the boss will just send another one" Meowth chimed in.

"You're not getting Pikachu or Piplup you thieves!" Ash shouted.

"We'll see about that twerp!"

"Oh yeah!"

Dawn, Brock and Paul watched all of this from outside. Dawn was grateful to see that Piplup was still there and hadn't been delivered to team rocket HQ.

"Fine, we'll just deliver these pokemon ourselves. James, Meowth, let's go."

"What!" Ash screamed, frustrated that he couldn't do anything from the cage he was locked in.

Jessie, James, and Meowth gathered up the two cages that contained Pikachu and Piplup. The two pokemon launched every attack they thought of but team rocket actually thought ahead for once and wore protective gloves.

Ash could just watch, unaware that Dawn, Paul, and Brock had a plan.

Team Rocket was in their hot air balloon outside and left the cabin door open so that the twerp could watch in agony.

But as soon as the balloon was in the air, it was shot down by Paul's Gliscore.

A stunned team rocked landed on the ground, with a thud in their balloon.

Ash looked around, wondering what happened after the dust cloud cleared.

Paul emerged first, then Brock, then Dawn.

"Urgh, you medaling twerps just don't know when to quit!" James yelled as Brock went over to free Ash. Pikachu's and Piplup's cages were lying on the ground next to the deflated balloon.

Team Rocket quickly turned the balloon basket into a giant robot. It had two glass orbs, one in the back and one in the front. The orbs were connected to short metal arms that were connected to the robot.

The mechanism had a metallic head that was only there for special effect. Team rocket was sitting in the chest of the robot, with the orbs in front and back of them, though they could not see into the back orb due to where they were positioned.

Now all four trainers were on the ground watching to see what team rocket would do next.

"You twerps are always getting in the way" Jessie said. And with that the front orb opened and headed toward Pikachu.

Ash was quick though.

"Pikachu!" Ash ran over to Pikachu's cage.

The glass orb was about to scoop up Ash and Pikachu. Brock immediately took note of this and ran over to Ash in attempt to warn him.

But instead, all three were now stuck in the front glass orb.

'Lot of good that did…' Paul thought.

Dawn was attending to Piplup's cage, trying to figure out how to break the lock. Paul, being as smart as he is, already figured out how to get Piplup out of the cage.

"Recall Piplup!" Paul had to shout over the loud robot.

"What?" Dawn called back; she was closer to the big machine, so it was harder to hear.

Paul came over to Dawn, "just but it back in the—He was cut off by the other glass orb scooping them up.

They realized that the reason the robot was so loud was because it was turning, that way it could position the ball to pick them up. Dawn looked around, all she could see was the back of the robot, and she knew they were hidden from everything else.

She turned back to Paul who also took note of the situation they were in. "What were you saying before?" Dawn questioned.

"I said, just put him back in the pokeball, which will get him out of the cage."

"That's a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?" Paul just shrugged his shoulders and placed his hands in his pockets.

Dawn got out Piplup's pokeball and recalled piplup, before calling him out once again. "There you go Piplup, safe and sound. Piplup was so grateful to be back with its trainer. Dawn scooped up her blue pokemon and hugged it tight. "Oh Piplup, it's so good to have you back, I missed you sooo much." Dawn exclaimed.

Paul stood there, observing his surroundings and thinking of ways to get out of this predicament.

"Thank you Paul." Dawn said, still holding Piplup In her arms.

Paul, upon hearing these words, stopped gazing around and looked at Dawn.

"Thank you for helping me find Piplup again." She clarified.

Paul said nothing, he didn't have a chance to.

Dawn clashed into him, which was difficult considering she was still holding onto Piplup in her arms. Paul silently returned the kiss with out moving. He knew it would be a long time before he felt this happy again. He wanted to grab onto her, to pull her closer. But something stopped him from that. He simply stood in place, with his hands in his pockets. He enjoyed what ever last moments they could share together.

The kiss only lasted about two seconds before they were interrupted by the glass orb shaking.

The couple looked around to see the robot becoming off balance. Somehow, Ash Brock and Pikachu were on the ground attacking the big robot. And soon enough, Dawn Paul and Piplup were free.

"We're blasting off again!" Shouted team rocket as they flew through the air. Their robot was destroyed.

All four trainers were on the ground safe, Dawn was finally reunited with Brock and Ash.

"Hey Paul…" Ash said cautiously. "Uh... Thanks for protecting Dawn when you guys were attacked earlier."

Paul kept a straight face, which was something Dawn couldn't do.

"Y-You saw that!" Dawn questioned, her face heated up as she remembered the scene. Paul stood up for her and wouldn't let anything harm her.

"No, but when team rocket was talking to you guys, I was in the same room, so I could hear everything. I just wanted to say thanks."

Dawn's face was slightly pink as she really tried not to blush. It was unusual for Ash to bring up something like this, and she couldn't help but wonder if he was suspicious too. Brock Chuckled as he noted her pink face.

"What's so funny?" Ash asked as he scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, nothing Ash..." Dawn said sheepishly, glad with relief that Ash was as clueless as always.

Paul didn't answer to anything, even though the original conversation was about him, he somehow managed to escape the pressure of answering. Which was good in this cas because he knew if he answered he couldn't help but insult that pathetic excuse for a trainer. Doing that would only make Dawn mad, and he did not want to be in that position. So he just kept quiet.

"Well Ash, we better get moving to get to your next gym battle." Brock said. This immediately pumped Ash up.

"Yeah let's go!"

And with that Ash, Brock and Dawn began walking toward the next town.

Paul stood there for a moment watching Dawn leave. Thinking about the next time they meet.

He was sure it would be soon, and those were his last thoughts as he began walking in the opposite direction.

* * *

**DONE! end of story! Don't get mad at me for not having a dramatic ending. So that is my first long story that I've written. So sorry it took me forever to write. So I hope your happy :) Um any questions feel free to ask and I'll answer with the best of my ability. R&R please :D Yay its complete!**


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